ESO/M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada
A millionth of a nova
You've heard of supernovae, the just stupidly big explosions that mark the end of some stars' lives. Maybe you know there are different kinds of supernovae — type 1a, type II ... Did you know that, smaller than a super nova, there's just a plain, vanilla nova? Or that, even bigger than super, there's hyper-novae? Well, hold onto your hats, because there's a new nova in town, and it's ... really quite small. On the nova scale, anyway. Emily gives all the goss on cute little micronovae. Plus, we school astronomers on the tricky subject of communicating large quantities of energy.
Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.
On the web: syzygy.fm | Twitter: @syzygypod
Want to help us make Syzygy even better? Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod
Huge thanks to our patrons, listed over on the Cosmic Great Wall of Gratitude.
Want some syzygy merch? Get it at the store.
Things we discuss in this episode:
The micronova paper
A good article (with a bad analogy) about the research
Supernovae and their types
The Cosmic Distance Ladder and Standard candles, and Dark Energy
TESS, everyone’s favourite space telescope
Phobos, potato moon